Prince Charles suggests Camilla could be queen

Britain's Prince Charles attends a business meeting in New Delhi October 4, 2010. REUTERS/B Mathur

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Britain’s Prince Charles has for the first time said his wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, could become queen if he were to succeed his mother, Queen Elizabeth II.

Asked in an interview with NBC television about the possibility of Camilla becoming queen if he is crowned king, Charles said: “We’ll see and I don’t know if I’ll — if I’ll still be alive, but that — that could be.”

The hour-long interview is part of a program on the Prince of Wales set to air in the United States on Friday. NBC released a transcript of the interview with anchor Brian Williams before the broadcast.

In the interview, conducted in August, Charles also talks about his love of nature, his relationship with the media and his sons, Harry and William, who this week became engaged to his girlfriend, Kate Middleton.

Charles married Camilla Parker Bowles, his long-time lover, five years ago after the death of his first wife, Princess Diana.

Throughout British history, the wife of a king becomes queen and is given the title Queen Consort, which has no constitutional powers. But at the time of the marriage, it was officially decided that Camilla would have the title Princess Consort if Charles becomes king.